Zoolander No. 2 [M]

Justin Bieber is dead and Interpol is baffled. Their only clue is an Instagram post he made before dying, where he adopts a peculiar facial pose. Several celebrities have recently died and posted the exact same face on Instagram so special agent Valentina determines to call in the one man who could interpret such a look: former male supermodel Derek Zoolander. Unfortunately Zoolander has been off the map since a terrible tragedy occurred at his Centre For Kids Who Can’t Read Good, which he has never gotten over. But Valentina is in luck because, after 10 years of fashion development, someone has determined to flush Derek and Hansel out of hiding and back onto the runway. 

Before I go into anything good or bad about this movie, I’m going to say that it’s going to be very difficult to properly talk about it without spoiling it. I’m going to try my best, but consider this your spoiler warning: you should step away from whatever device you’re reading this on, watch the movie, and then come back and see if you agree with me or not. Understood? Good. 

It’s no secret that the marketing for this movie has been spot on with the campaign reintroducing us to these memorable characters and their personalities and this is what made me excited to see the film. Even though critics have given it a bit of a beating and it has sort of gone the way of the original, in that it is very stupid with some parts of the narrative being really, really, ridiculously far-fetched and some others being highly predictable, Zoolander 2 still managed to make me laugh and feel all those happy and nostalgic feelings of when I saw the first one way back when. By the end of the movie, I was bubbling with happiness and cinematic satisfaction and the stupidness and predictability did not matter in the slightest! 

The first thing I want to talk about, I consider both a pro and a con. It’s the injection of a ‘deeper narrative’ and character arc that takes the form of paternalism. In the first movie, when Derek asked those fateful words “who am I?”, he went back to his roots: his father. And they do the same sort of thing here with Derek asking that question of the heavens regarding his own position as a father. Hansel goes through a similar journey, which, once you remember the clue from the first movie, proves to be ridiculously predictable and his own character arc breaks a bit because the paternal journey seems to be really forced upon him. Whilst the paternal narrative and character development works for Derek, it causes Hansel’s character to lose something I think and he becomes more lost than when he started the movie. So it’s a foot on both docks with the paternal narrative angle. 

The central story itself replaces the conspiracy of the fashion industry being behind political assassinations with a far-fetched and somewhat clichéd story regarding the mythical Fountain of Youth. It’s here that the film sits firmly on the edge of ‘oh so stupid’, but it’s hard to consider this a con. Even though you’re face-palming yourself a fair amount during these bouts of narrative, it’s still incredibly in keeping with the vibe of the first movie, which makes it almost annoyingly enjoyable. 

At the end of the day, the safety net with the Zoolander movies is that they are so incredibly silly and don’t take themselves seriously that it’s hard to argue that they are bad films. The cons sort of eradicate themselves because they are all so deliberate and add to the stupid vibe of the film, which makes it both face-palming and fun. 

Whilst the cons of one clichéd narrative and one predictable and forced character arc narrative are deliberate and sort of cancel themselves out as cons, there is one thing about the film that I can solidly consider a flaw. For whatever reason, I felt that the characters of Derek, Hansel, Mugatu, and to a lesser extent Matilda were a little overdone. Admittedly we did fall in love with the original caricatured and over-exaggerated personalities, but for some reason here they just seem too exaggerated; almost as though they were trying too hard to regain that sense of self they first had. 

Now, you can argue that they’re overdone to make a point about how much time has passed and how things have changed and how they are ‘has-beens’ in a modern world, but that doesn’t erase the fact that sometimes you get sick of watching them and hearing their lines over-drenched in ridiculousness. 

Aside from that, I don’t think there is anything else actually wrong with this movie. The humour is there and the same gags are given a little new life, the costumes are still as ridiculous and outrageous as ever, the makeup you can see from outer space (especially Kristen Wiig’s, which makes her completely unrecognisable), and there are just as many hilarious cameos as the first film! 

Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux, Billy Zane, Milla Jovovich, Justin Bieber, Cyrus Arnold, Kyle Mooney, Sting, Nathan Lee Graham, a really creepy Fred Armisen, Benedict Cumberbatch, and featuring cameos from Olivia Munn, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Rakim Mayers, Kiefer Sutherland, Susan Sarandon, Katy Perry, Anna Wintour, Joe Jonas, Lenny Kravitz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Skrillex, Susan Boyle, Tommy Hilfiger, Katie Couris, Marc Jacobs, M.C. Hammer, and John Malkovich, Zoolander 2 is a really, really, ridiculous movie, but one that succeeds in inspiring those feelings of fun and face-palming-in-enjoyment that made the first one so loveable. 

Filled with action, stupidness, character growth, drama, romance, paternalism, fashion, and comedy, I really enjoyed watching this movie and it you loved the first one, then you’ll love this one too.